Full Summary: Ichigo noticed it slowly, but surely, people were disappearing from the soul society. The targets were usually adults or the elderly, and sometimes young or orphaned children; people you wouldn't question either wandering off or finding a new family in the soul-society's surrogate dynamic. Ichigo noticed though, because a child he had cared for since beginning his life within the walls of Seireitei had disappeared, and he was determined to figure out why.
I'm going to warn you now, I have an OC (own character) in this story, now, I usually have a great dislike for OCs, other than maybe two stories where the authors are just amazing at writing and validating them; now I'm not saying I am a great enough author to have written an OC but I fell it is necessary for this plot and have tried to limit his show-time and try to limit his 'john-doe-ness'.
ANOTHER WARNING: This will not be uploaded constantly, like 'Life on the high Seas' it will be updated when i have time and motivation, it isn't as thoroughly planned out as my other fics, and is something i'm doing so i have choice and variety... so yeah...
Please enjoy despite the spelling, grammar and tenses errors I am prone to.
It is right because the king said.
The son he never had.
"Otosan!" a young voice, maybe five years old, maybe younger called after a sprinting figure donned in black and white. The voice belonged to a boy, even at such an age there was a depth to it that gendered the face-less voice, but that may have been due more to the fact that the boy had been living in the western districts for well over ten years now.
"Shouta." A warm, ambient voice appeared beside the boy, and the boy could not fight the warmth and security he felt when those strong, scarred arms wrapped around him and pulled him up towards the warm chest.
Now, the boy was not a truly memorable one, not in the western district of Rukongai at least, he had medium length ochre hair, not quite brown, but certainly not quite as vibrant an orange as the man that held him, while it wasn't short, it wasn't really long either, just long enough for the greater part of it to be tied back in a crimson ribbon given to him by the friend of the man who held him. Some stray pieces of his hair fell into his eyes, framing his slightly rounded cheeks as the ends touched just lower than his upper lip, which held a slightly reddened tone from his constant nervous nibbling of them. Pushing back the pieces of ochre locks, the tanned, scarred man looked into the dark blue eyes, wondering how they could hold so much depth when they seemed so dark and cold. Of course, only he really ever saw them when they were lightened with mirth and joy, seeing as the boy never really opened up to anyone else.
"Shouta, I thought I told you not to follow me so far out of Rukongai, you know I cannot take you into Seireitei with me."
Brown eyes, deep and warm did not reprimand as the voice did, and Ichigo knew he could not scold the boy he held. It had been far too long since the boy actually needed a scolding, and after so long Ichigo could do nothing more than scold lightly and love heavily.
"Yo, king, how long has it been?" Ichigo didn't even start when the voice called in his brain, it had been a long time since the voice had startled him.
"Kurai, you know how long it has been, we were the catalyst for all of this."A great rumbling rattled behind the warped high-pitched tone of the earlier voice, and Ichigo fought the smile upon his face.
Ichigo muses as the young pale-skinned boy chats on about his day, about how 'Ichigo is never here', and about how he rolled in the dirt today playing with some of the local dogs. Ichigo listens and raises an eyebrow at that information, answering his unasked question about the boy's skin suddenly darkening.
"I think, it's been about twelve years now."
Ichigo had died a rather unnatural death, he had grown and aged, never married, and never with kids, and had died when he was forty-five in a plane crash when he was visiting his sisters and their children. The plane crash had been a rare, and totally freak accident, the engines had failed over the ocean, and water landings are always the most difficult and usual have the most casualties. It was a quick death- the experts said to his sisters- but either way, Ichigo had been unable to save anyone, and that still haunts him even in his peaceful death.
When he arrived in Soul society it wasn't in the usual fashion, he had quite literally been dropped into the central office in Seireitei, during a captain's meeting, on his backside, with all the captains and their lieutenants present.
Each one reacted differently some laughed at the expression on the orangette's head, and others raised their eyebrows with the ridiculousness of it all. Of course, once the initial shock wore off and people actually looked at the substitute... or ex-substitute shinigami's expression and appearance their reactions were very different.
When Ichigo arrived in Seireitei he was in the body of an fit and healthy twenty year old young man, his body was fit and lithe, as it was upon his death, and upon his skin were the scars his soul body wore from the various wars he had fought in. Of course the state of his body, the scars and lines, weren't uncommon, but the age of his soul-body was.
"Can't you even land in the right way?" Renji had roared, he of course was the first to laugh at Ichigo's predicament when he landed ass-first in the meeting room.
"Ichigo Kurosaki, please have more dignity when entering the captain's meeting."
Of course, Ichigo was not the teen he was when he first received his powers, he scowled, and stood with a lithe grace bestowed only to veteran fighter, he bowed to the old-man before him, and finally took his place as the captain of the fourteenth court guard squad.
"Pardon my rather abrupt entrance Oji, but it seems I just died."
Now this silenced even the cackling Kenpachi. They all believed their aged ears heard the young man word's wrong, but the fact he no longer looked to be in his mid-forties did seem to back up his statement. After all, Ichigo became an official shinigami when he turned twenty-two, and since then had taken up various responsibilities within soul society and the living world.
"So it seems you have, I suppose we have much work to do?" the head captain questioned with one large eyebrow raised.
"So it seems we do."
Of course, when his sisters got the news of his death, and no matter how many times he assured them he was fine with living in soul society, they cried for days. If anything they cried more because they were scared that he'd disappear like their father had ten years earlier. None of them knew why their father hadn't turned up in Rukongai upon his death, only that after three years of search he was still missing, and they had to accept that their father really was dead.
Karin and Yuzu had aged so well over the years, but were in their forties and had both married and brought three children into the world, Karin had two boys and a girl and Yuzu had three girls. They both taken to parenthood with an eased grace, and even Karin had learned not to be so closed off from the world of emotions, she smiled more, and often times Ichigo saw the girl before their mother's death when she did. It really was unfortunate the time of Ichigo's death, it had almost been the anniversary of their mother's death, and as ironic as it was, Ichigo had broken his traditional visit to her grave to visit his nieces and nephews.
"King, don't get depressed, you can see then anytime."
"Otosan?" the orangette looked at the bundle of energy in his arms and smiled, it hadn't taken the boy long to give up calling him by his given name.
"I'm sorry Shouta, I was just thinking." His smile was no longer restricted by guilt and pain, Ichigo had long outgrown that habit of his. Renji and Rukia, as well as Byakuran has brought true smiles out of him over the years they had known each other, and while Ichigo was still rather brash, and aggressively protective, he had learned that quiet calculation meant that he could protect many more people than he could with teenage rashness.
Small hands touched Ichigo's tanned face, rubbing circles on his angled cheeks, Shouta was always a very touchy boy, with Ichigo at least, always needing to be embraced and always happy to touch Ichigo's scared face and arms.
"You'll hurt yourself Otosan, if you think too much."
The young boy laughs and snuggles into Ichigo's chest, the movement was so natural, and it often made Ichigo wish he had sired children during his life, and considering it was too late now, short of treason to the 13 court guard squads, to sire children Ichigo had to settle for the boy in his arms and any other children that flocked to the newest captain.
Kurai hums in Ichigo's mind, reflecting the emotions Ichigo feels about siring children, Zangetsu rumbles in agreement and suggests they make their way home, and considering the level of the sun to the sky, the zanpakto's words are wise.
Running towards the wall of Seireitei Ichigo makes his way to the home Shouta shared with no-one but the dogs Ichigo had gathered, Seireitei would not allow the child to enter its walls, but would agree to giving the child housing close enough to the entrance to guarantee his safety by the gate guardians that settled themselves close.
Seireitei's law was its word, so Ichigo could only sigh, tuck his surrogate son into his bed and make his way back to his own barracks to fill our paperwork he wished his lieutenant would take care of in his stead.
O.o I dared to change Shiro's name? *shot* I know, but I wanted to be different, if people really object I'll change it, bit meh, I like it. Kurai means dark in Japanese as far as the internet is concerned, so yeah... I chose it simply because Ichigo in canon considers Shiro some kind of demon, his darker half, unlike the brightness of his clothing and skin.
Well, please review, I'd like to know what you think and if this is even original :/
Thanks whatever you decide.
~~Bleach-ed-Na-tsu :3